Darkest Sentiments of the Heart
by linwe viper emily nolatari
Summary: He married without loving her. It was the only way he found to repay her kindness. his world is crumbling...kenshin is thinking about his married life with kaoru...sequel closure coming soon..R
1. Chapter 1

Yeah this is my favorite couple to write about and not because I like it. It's because I don't like them, that I like to write about them. Yes I am weird. And yes, I can't leave this couple alone. And no, I do not own these characters…if I did this couple would have never been conceived. On with the story…

The child knew. He could sense it. I did not love his mother. How cruel it sounds, but it was the truth.

This woman lying besides me, her sleeping soundly, breathing softly, did not deserve this. She gave him her everything, and what had he given her? His deception.

It was ironic, the child slept between them, like a barrier so they would not touch. The child knew. That was why the child rejected him. Of course, the child would be attached to the woman who gave him life, more than to the man that caused his mother pain.

It hurt. He loved this child more than anything, but the child was angry with him. He would not let him touch him. He would bite his hand whenever he tried to pat his head.

Five years had passed since then. Since the day he had committed his greatest sin, and that was to have married her. As the years passed, and he got older, his heart let him lie less and less to himself. He did not love her, no matter how hard he tried.

This woman had offered him everything. When he was at his breaking point, she had offered him a home. When he was alone, she was there. At his darkest hour, when the greatest demon from his past returned, she did not condemn him, and she had given him the most important thing in his life. His child. Yet, he could not love her.

He only married her out of gratitude. He did not know how to thank her for her kindness, and the only way he found was so cruel. He asked her to marry him. How did he feel seeing that radiant face, those teary eyes, telling him that he had just made her the happiest woman on the planet? It was a nauseating feeling. He felt like throwing up, like taking back those words, but he couldn't. He couldn't break that heart that was so pure, so innocent.

It was only when the child was asleep, that he could caress his child's red hair, and tell him how much he loved him. It was only then, that the child's guard was down. Tears fell from his eyes. This was his punishment for deceiving her. Not having his child's love.

"Did you sleep well last night?" his wife asked.

"Don't worry about me. I am fine." He assured her.

She looked at him, worry reflected in her blue eyes. "Maybe we should get Megumi to take a look at you."

"It is nothing. It is just that the years do not pass by in vain."

"You are not that old. You are only 33." She pointed out.

He just smiled at her. Even now, she still worried about him. "Where is Kenji?" he asked, inquiring about his child.

"Oh?" she said, just as Sanosuke came around with the child in his arms.

"What are you doing with my child?" Kaoru asked.

"Nothing. I was just playing with the little guy." Sanosuke said.

"I don't want you to teach him your bad habits!" she said.

"Hey Kenshin, defend me. Say something in my favor!" Sano asked of me.

I just smiled. "Kaoru's the boss."

Kaoru took Kenji from Sano's arms.

"Let's go to your father." She told him. Kenji pouted. When she tried to give him to me, he refused to leave her arms.

"I guess the child still doesn't like me." I said, plastering a smile on my face.

Kaoru gave me an apologetic smile. "He will. Just be patient."

I kept that smile on my face. No, the child was never going to like me, because I will never love his mother.

"See what happens when you are over protective? The kid develops a mother complex and rejects the father." Sano said jokingly.

Kaoru glared at him.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked.

"I came to visit."

"You mean freeload." A voice said.

They all turned around to see Yahiko standing there.

"That was low, you runt." Sano said.

"That is the truth. Every time you come along, is to freeload."

Yahiko could be called our first "child."

Shortly after my arrival at the Kamiya Dojo, we encountered Yahiko. At the time he was a young thief trying to buy his freedom back from some gangsters. But that was then, now he is s formidable young man.

He was ten, I was 28, and Kaoru was 17. He could very well have been my biological son, but he isn't.

Yahiko always respected me, and wanted to be like me, but I swore that nobody was going to inherit my fighting style, the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryo. Instead, he learned Kaoru's fighting style, a style created by her father, the Kamiya-Kasshin Ryo.

"Now, now, everyone, stop acting like children, you are not children anymore." Another voice interrupted my thoughts. It was the family's friend and doctor, Megumi Takani.

"Meguni-dono, what brings you here?" I ask.

"I had the feeling that you are not feeling well?" she asks.

"Megumi! Yes, he has not been feeling well." Kaoru interjected, worry audible in her voice.

"Ken-san?" she asks.

"Do not worry about me, it is true that I have been feeling a bit restless, but it is nothing to concern yourself with." I say, plastering yet another fake smile on my face.

Meguni-dono can see through my façade, but she lets it pass. She has always been a very mature person.

"How's the little one doing?" she asks Kaoru instead.

"He's at that age, you know? He's a bit rebellious."

"Hmmm, spoiled one isn't he?" Megumi asks jokingly.

"Kenji, come greet Megumi." Kaoru calls for Kenji to approach Megumi-dono.

"My, he's gotten bigger. He looks like Ken-san more and more everyday."

"He does. He will be one handsome boy." Kaoru boasts.

"It's true. Ken-san, you have a beautiful child." Megumi-dono tells me.

I smile at her.

"He'll want to be just like his father." Kaoru tells her.

My smile falters. No he won't. He would like to be as different as me as possible. He would never be proud of me being his father.

The conversation goes on, but I am not there with them.


	2. Chapter 2

Ooohhhh..I'm soooooo happy!

Thanx, thanx 4 ur reviews! I think I've broken a record w/ how many reviews I've gotten for any of my fanfics! I already have 8 in the first chapter! That's all I have for my other 5 stories!Thank u all again…hope u keep reading my stories…and maybe go check out my other K/K ones…..

When did my life get so complicated?

Was it when I was still a child and ran away from my master to join a war?

Or was it after **_she_** died?

No, I know when it got complicated. It was on the day I asked Kaoru to marry me.

Knowing that I did not love her as nothing more than a sister, I still asked her to marry me. I was trying to convince myself that I could eventually love her as a woman. I was wrong. I've tried, but it hasn't happened. To me, she's still not a woman. In my eyes, she is still a child.

From the beginning, it was a bad idea. She was, and still is to idealistic. Too pure. She could never really understand my bloody past.

She's given me comfort, she's lent me her ears, but she also believes in me. Like Yahiko, she blindly believes in me. To her, I am invincible. A good man. She doesn't care what I did before. To her the only one that exists is the me that is now, not the hitokiri me. But it is cruel to let her believe that. If only she could get into my mind and see the real me.

This me is even worse than the hitokiri me.

This me should join Shishio in hell and burn for all eternity.

"Kenshin, you are starting to worry me." Kaoru pulls me out of my thoughts. Everybody is still here.

"Oro?" I say, putting on my space-case façade. The façade she knows best.

She gives out a little laugh. "I hadn't heard you use that expression in a while.Maybe I have been overreacting, but come join us." She tells me, taking my hand.

"Pardon me for worrying you." I tell her.

She stops and turns to me, "Silly, why are you apologizing? As your wife I should worry when my husband is not feeling well."

"Thank you…" I say, "for loving me…even if I do not deserve that love." I finish in a whisper.

"You don't have to thank me for loving you."

I let it go, but I do have to thank her. Thank her for loving me when I do not love her.


	3. Chapter 3

PPL, how can I thank u guys? Thanx 4 all the reviews…they've been very supportive….even if I don't like K/K, I don't like leaving ppl out in the cold, so u Kaoru fans, I won't make her suffer….BTW, I haven't read.the whole manga, or seen the whole anime, so this is purely, purely something from my head….but thanx anyways 4 the reviews..keep reviewing please….and maybe check out my other rurouni kenshin stories?

"Ken-san, may I speak with you?"

"Megumi-dono?"

"Ken-san, I get the feeling that your are not well."

"Don't let Kaoru's words worry you, Megumi-dono."

"No, it wasn't what Kaoru said. I think that you are not well emotionally."

"I…" I am speechless. Megumi-dono is very observant; I don't know how much longer can I lie to Kaoru.

"What is it?" she asks me. "I know that your life hasn't been easy, but I remember you saying that all your demons were put to rest five years ago. Was it a lie? Have they been catching up to you Ken-san?"

I shake my head. "It's…. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed, that is all."

"It's Kenji, right? His rejection?"

I say nothing.

"Don't worry Ken-san, he will pass that difficult age. It is only natural that he is more attached to his mother at this age. The mother is the most important person to a kid at his age, but don't doubt his love for you."

I give her a sad smile.

'Don't doubt his love for you.' Those words keep playing in my head. Don't doubt. How easy that sounds, but it is not doubt. It is the sad reality of my life.

"Thank you Megumi-dono." I say.

I am now living in a constant fear that Megumi-dono will see through my façade, and see what my eyes are trying to hide. She has always been a very perceptive person, but I do not think she has noticed yet. Then again, I got advice from the best actor I know.

If there was one thing that I learned from Soujiro-san was how to put up an effective charade.

When I felt that I could take it no longer and I was about to break, I took a little trip to Kyoto to visit my friends at the Aoyia, and to seek out Soujiro-san.

The only one that knows my true feelings is he, but I had to tell him. Soujiro-san lived his whole life hiding his feelings from his family in order to survive, and I needed to do the same.

Soujiro-san didn't judge me. He didn't say anything, he just listened.

'Kenshin-san, you have to let go of your feelings of guilt.' He said. Who would have thought that I was going to ask an eighteen-year-old child for advice in my complicated life?

'How can I? Every time I look at her smiling face, my heart breaks because I cannot give her the love she deserves. I can't even be a husband to her now, yet she doesn't question me or get irritated, she just worries.'

'Forgive and forget. Apparently you don't want to make her suffer, your only option is to forgive and forget.'

Forgive, and forget. How easy Soujiro-san made it sound, but he was a child after all, and his situation had been different from mine. He had not married anyone out of pity. It had been a mistake to come burden him with my problems.

'Kenshin-san, I respect you a lot, but if you ask me, learn to live with her. Not all marriages are based on love. Some are just compromise. Compromise.'

Yes, it was a compromise. That was my best choice. I had to compromise. I knew that I would never love her, but I was her husband, she was my wife, and I couldn't elude her forever.

"Kaoru, I know that I haven't been a good husband, but I want to apologize for that." I say.

I had just returned from my trip to Kyoto, and I was going to try and be the best husband ever. I had come to a decision long ago, no matter how unhappy I was, I would never terminate this marriage, but I would let Kaoru go if she found someone else to love and loved her back. Now, that resolve was even stronger. I couldn't hurt her any more, but I would not be the one to break her heart. I would take my unsaid feelings to the grave.

She gives me a tender smile, "You have never been a bad husband. You could never be a bad husband."

Tears come to my eyes, real tears of extreme sadness because of how good she is too me. How could she forgive me like that if I have been denying my husband duties for so long?

"I am just glad that you have returned to me. I'm so glad." She tells me teary-eyed.

I could see Kenji watching us from afar, a scowl on his young childish face. No matter how many people I can fool, I can never fool him.

'But I'll never hurt your mother and that is a promise.' I tell him in my thoughts. 'Please forgive me.'

That night, after many nights of being so close, yet so far, we consummated our marriage once again.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey ppl!

FYI, just so u know, I have no particular interest in kenshin/tomoe either, I dunno if I'm coming off as a k/t fan, but I'm not, I just don't like kaoru, personally I don't think she was good 4 kenshin cus she was way younger and didn't really understand his all too bloody past…I just don't think they went together very well….he would seem better off w/ megumi in my opinion….she seems to understand him better…but enough on that, just enjoy!Oh and i havent seen Seishouhen...

Her husband had returned. The man she had loved since the day she first laid eyes on him had returned. She didn't know what had happened to him, why he had distanced himself from her, but nothing mattered to her now, he had returned and she was happy.

I re-learned to live with her. To pretend like everything was right with the world, and I had even started to make progress with my son. That was what gave me the strength to keep the charade up. My son's love.

All he needed was to see his mother radiate with happiness, and I was willing to give her that happiness. I was being extremely selfish, how much crueler can I be? How much crueler can you be to somebody you love as a sister? How can I say that I love her, even as a sister if I would use her and lie to her to gain my son's trust and respect? I was a despicable man.

There are nights where I see Shishio in my nightmares. He laughs and extends his hand to me, so that I could join him in hell. He is engulfed in flames, laughing, telling me what a great time we could have.

That laugh haunts me.

'We can finish off our fight. In hell you won't need your unnecessary morals, you could fight to kill.' His ghost tells me in my dreams. I try to wake up but I cannot. He has me in his grasp, tormenting my dreams.

"Kenji, let's go to your father." Kaoru says.

His big eyes stare wide at me. He always looks at me that way, as if to see that I won't pull a knife and backstab his mother. I smile at him and shake my head. I would never hurt her willingly. If I could, my greatest wish would be to love her as she loves me so that I can stop hiding behind this façade that I've built. I really wish I could bring her true happiness.

He agrees to leave her embrace and extends his small arms to me. I hold him tightly, trying to remember that embrace for as long as I could. Those times when I could embrace my son were rare, and I never wanted to forget them.


	5. Chapter 5

Time passes by and Kenji keeps growing, but lately he seems to be getting out of hand.

"I don't necessarily think that killing people is a bad thing." He says.

"Kenji stop being a brat. You are a kid, what do you know about life?" Yahiko counters him.

"Oh, and you know a lot about life? You just got married and you think you can lecture me? When you have your kids, got teach him about your ideals, don't come here and preach to me." Says Kenji haughtily.

"Grrrr, you brat. Didn't you pay attention to your mother when she taught you how to use the sword?" Yahiko retorts angrily.

"And what if I didn't?"

"You brat!" says Yahiko, "I you can beat me in a fight then I will stop 'preaching' and respect your ideas, but if you lose you will stop spouting non-sense. Seriously, who does this kid think he is?"

"Agreed. If I win, you stop preaching. I don't even let that man that calls himself my father tell me what to do; why should I let you?"

Kenji may be a genius, and his fighting skills weren't bad, but Yahiko had more experience, and maybe he also had more resolve to teach Kenji a lesson that lead him to victory.

"Damn it!" Kenji cursed.

"Here." Yahiko told Kenji. "I would stop preaching." And extending his hand to the boy, holding his sakabato, he brought it to Kenji's face.

"What is this?" Kenji asked, half-awed, half-uninterested.

"This," Yahiko started, "belonged to 'that man that calls himself your father', and I will now pass it on to you."

Kenji had wanted a "real" sword, not his father's old sword, a sword that couldn't cut anything, but there was nothing he could do, he had to accept it.

He took the sword with out a word, a haughty air about him and walked away with a dignified stroll.

"That boy." Murmured Yahiko.

"You did good." A voice said behind him. He turned around to see his wife, Tsubame, standing there.

"I don't know. That boy is so difficult to read. You can never tell what he is thinking."

"But he's a good boy." Tsubame said.

"Yeah, I guess you are right."

Kenji stared at the sword with contempt. He had never liked his father, and only put a half-hearted effort because of his mother. He had tried to love that man, but something about him, his mannerisms made him reject him. They had gotten somewhat closer during some time, but all that had fallen apart when his "father" had refused to teach him the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu.

In his young heart, after discovering about his father's past, a past he couldn't believe belonged to the same man; he had become fascinated by the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu. He wanted to learn it, it was a style much more interesting than his mother's boring Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu.

He loved his mother, no doubt, but he just didn't agree with her ideas. They were too dull. He didn't believe in her 'swords that give life' motto. He felt that his life was boring, and he had truly believed in his pre-adolescent heart that by learning his father's techniques, his life would become more interesting and maybe even come to love this man that gave him life, but he had refused.

'I told Yahiko this ten years ago when he first came to live at this dojo, and I will say it again, become strong using the Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu because the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu will die with me.'

That day, what little respect he held for his father withered away.

But that was five years ago. Now at his fifteen years of age, he had inherited a useless weapon, but he had also learned the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu. Nobody knew, but Kenji had learned the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu by only hearing about it. He was a genius, but he kept that a secret.

'Not until the day that I can face that man and beat him. Until that day comes, nobody will know that I have taught myself the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu.' He had promised himself that.

He sat alone, pondering about his life, when his mother and father walked in.

"I am so proud of you!" his mother gushed. His father stayed back, a smile on his face, while his mother hugged him.

"You have officially become a man." His mother said. He forced a smile.

A man? Not with that sword.

If it weren't for his mother, he would have walked up to that man and return his useless sword to him, but he couldn't, it would break his mother's heart. His mother still believed that they had a good relationship.

"Father, one day I will be able to stand tall and challenge you. Until that day comes, this sword would not truly be mine. Not until I can beat the original wielder of the sword." Kenji tells me, a smile playing on his lips. I can see clearly the mischievous glint in his blue eyes, the sly smile on his lips. I know what those words are truly saying. He doesn't want that sword; he hates it. He only mentioned the sword to give him a reason in front of his mother to challenge me.

"Oh, isn't that wonderful?" Kaoru asks me, "that he wants you to give him the sword."

I smile one of those fake smiles that I long ago learned how to make.

Yes, of course.


	6. Chapter 6

That day five years ago the little ways I had made with Kenji went down the drain.

It was the day that he asked me to teach him the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu and I had refused.

That day, the thin threat that held our relationship got severed.

Maybe I should have agreed to teach him, but now it was too late to repent. Even if I offered now, my son was beyond my reach.

He was a young man now; the walls around him were thick and unbreakable. There are times that I look at him and want to cry for him, not because of his rejection of me, but because he seems so very lonely.

My son, the person that I would give my life for, is a lonely young man and it is my fault. He would never bear his soul to anyone, he won't even open up to his mother. He has build around him a wall, just like Soujiro-san had done years ago, in order not to be hurt.

I have now remembered a memory from long ago, something that I had tried to forget, it was the day my son stopped loving me. The day he started to build that wall around him. It was the day after two years of marriage when I awoke and I knew the answer, it was the day when I realized that I could never love Kaoru as a woman.

The day I started avoiding her, that was the day he saw my rejection of his mother, her tears, her broken heart because she didn't know why I avoided her, and my inability to comfort her, to tell her the everything was alright, that it was only a temporary phase.

That day, his heart also broke.

There was not going to be a happy family or a father to be proud of or a strong mother. All that was going to be was loneliness, a broken mother and an uncaring father.

I remember those blue eyes full of hurt; then those same blue eyes became cold and uncaring towards me. And since then, those blue eyes have been following my every move, looking, waiting, to see me hurt the woman he loves the most.

On that day, he had lost all respect for me.

Since then, the boy grew hostile. In order not to be hurt again, he took a haughty attitude, an attitude that annoyed more than one. That was the major difference between Soujiro-san's wall and my son's. Soujiro-san put all his emotions in a box and locked them away deep within his heart, my son decided to keep all the negative ones on the surface.

"May I have a word with you?" I ask my son, who's facing away from me.

"If you must. Was is it that you want?"

"Why did you challenge me in front of your mother?"

"Oh so you did catch it? I'm impressed." He said sarcastically.

I say nothing.

"You know I hate you, don't you?" he suddenly tells me.

I knew all along that he didn't like me, but those words pierced through my heart. He had never told me that before and the full meaning of his words hurt. They hurt a lot.

I quietly leave him alone, salty tears running down my cheeks.

That wall kept getting thicker and thicker.


	7. Chapter 7

I got the Kenji's role model's and the basis for his character from what I read online about a side story, "The Secret lives of the Characters" in which it describes what the characters have been doing and in that book it states that Kenji grew up "to be more twisted than Saito and more egomaniacal than Shishio." I dunno how true that rings, but that's what I'm basing myself by.

That was the first time he voiced his feelings for his father out loud, and he felt not one ounce of regret.

He got on his feet and decided to go train. That was his way to cool off.

There were many things he didn't like. One was his father, but there were other things that irritated him.

If his father was Yahiko's role model, the man he wanted to become was somebody totally opposite. His role models were two men by the name of Shishio Makoto and Saito Hajime respectively.

Yes, Himura Kenji looked up to men that posed his father the most threat. And that was only because he didn't know about a Yukishiro Enishi.

The boy was growing up, and thinking for himself, but the path he was taking was not one in which his parents agreed. He loved his mother, but her ideals had never sat well with him. He wanted something more out of life, something he could never get by staying home and following his mother's teachings. The boy wanted power.

The place where he went to train was an isolated place, but that was why he liked it. He liked being alone, besides; training there, he knew that no one was going to find out his little secret.

He smiled at his own deviousness.

The boy trained hard for the day when he felt he could beat his father. He was training even harder now, since Yahiko had defeated him, and he had never thought of Yahiko as much of a fighter. He felt weak. He was angry.

Until he was completely drenched in sweat, and his whole body hurt he returned home.

"Kenji, where were you, we were worried?" his mother asked upon his arrival.

His anger being like an unguarded match, flared up in an instant.

"It is none of your business! You said it yourself in the afternoon didn't you; I am a man now! You don't have to know every little thing I do!"

His mother was left speechless.

"Kenji…his father started, but he knew what he was going to say.

He loved his mother, but not even she was exempt of his anger, and he would often lash out at her, leaving him to feel great regret later on.

"Mother, please forgive me." He told his mother, giving her a hug.

His mother said nothing, but being his mother he forgave his little outburst, just as she always did.

"What is bothering you?" his mother asked, concerned.

"It's…It's nothing." And with that he disappeared from their view.

His parents stood there, looking as his form disappear from their view.

"What do you think is bothering him so much?" Kaoru asked.

"Do not worry, it is that he is at that difficult age right now." Said Kenshin knowing full well what was really eating into his son.


	8. Chapter 8

Hello again. Thanx for keeping up the reviews…. the good and the bad…. I appreciate them all…oh and Kaoru of course she noticed a change, but she loves him so much that she was blissfully unawares of the real reason why he distanced himself…she just assumed it was something physical and that he didn't want her worrying about, or was too embarrassing…BTW, to answer the question, it's hard to say if I've ever been in love…I'm young and I think my time will come…. infatuation, yes of course who hasn't? Well I hope u guys keep enjoying my story….

As I saw my son's form disappear from my view, I suddenly saw my young self. The young boy I was when I left my master to join the war. In a way, his outburst reminded me of that day long ago when I had disobeyed the man who had saved me from a life of slavery and given me strength.

I realized that in my young days I had been very much like my son. I left to Kyoto and became the Hitokiri Battosai. In those days, if it hadn't been because I found love, I would have descended into darkness. My life before Tomoe was an empty void, she gave me life again. Tomoe was my first love, and now I hope that my son will find love before he plunges deeper into that despair that is eating him alive.

Tomoe. After her, I thought that I would never be able to feel alive. I missed the smell of white plum that accompanied her, her almost smile, everything. I had killed her. I wanted to die with her. But Tomoe had changed me. She returned that humanity that I had lost back to me. That half lost sanity all returned, and it was because of her, but all those were just memories. Memories that still hurt me, but they are memories that I can go back to visit now.

It was because of Shishio that I can now look back at those memories. He made me return to a place where I had hoped never to return. Kyoto. The place where I had met her, and the place where I had lost her.

Maybe I was never meant to love. Maybe my love is cursed. Why do I always hurt the people I care about? I'll never forget my son's retreating figure, emanating so much anger and pain. A feeling that I created in him.

I wonder what would have been of all our lives if I had left when the Kairyu pirates took me prisoner? If I had left with Shuura-dono? Would I have a son who would love me, or maybe a daughter?

Maybe my mistake began that day. The day I said goodbye to the person who could have given me what I was looking for, but I couldn't leave Kaoru just like that, but maybe I should have done it.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru brings me back from my memories.

"Oro?'

"You had a funny look on your face." She tells me.

I smile at her. "I was just reminiscing."

"About what if I may inquire?"

"About…" I pause, "Tomoe" I see her smile falter a little, "and the Kairyu Pirates."

She stays silent. Those are not favorite topics of hers.

"It had been a long time since I thought of Tomoe. A very long time." I mumble to myself as an apology to her.

"Tomoe was a very important person to you. She was your first wife, it is only natural that you think of her occasionally." She tells me.

"You are too kind."

"I can't fight a dead woman, but I don't have to."

Of course she doesn't have to fight Tomoe for anything. Her place in my heart is irreplaceable, but that goes for every person I have ever loved. Nobody can replace no one in anybodies heart, everyone has his or her own special place.

"I understand about Tomoe, but what made you remember the Kairyu pirates?"

"I don't honestly know. Maybe it was that I remembered that Shuura-dono promised me we were going to be friends if we ever met again"

"She was a good woman. I wonder if she is doing well after all those years?"

"The ocean is unpredictable, but she loved the ocean so much that I think she is doing well."

The Kairyu pirate, what could have been, but wasn't.

This is more like a filler chapter, but I really liked the idea of Kenshin/Shuura, too bad she didn't appear in the manga….so sad….it was just a little inside about the women in kenshin's life….till next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

The boy was getting too out of hand. His anger flared up more often. He was slowly losing his grip on reality. On what was good and bad. Those lines were blurring.

He wanted to punch a wall, to kill some one. He felt guilty of taking his anger out on his mother. He never wanted to hurt her, but yet he always did.

"Damn it!" he said through gritted teeth.

"I am almost ready…." He said to himself. He almost had the Amakakeru Ryo no Hirameki mastered, and when he did, he would challenge his father.

He smiled at his own deviousness.

"Yahiko, how do you use this thing?" Kenji asked holding up the sakabato.

"Huh? It's a sword, you use it how you would use any sword."

"Don't lie." Kenji said, his self-control slipping. Yahiko always irritated him. "This is not a normal sword, it's a sakabato."

"Ask Kenshin, he knows the sword better than anyone"

"But I am asking _you_. Or do you not want to help me?"

"It will take a while for you to use it since the blade is on the other side, but you could reverse the blade if need be."

He smiled. That was what he wanted to hear.

"Oh, thank you." He said and walked off.

"Kaoru that son of yours keeps getting stranger and stranger as the years go by." Yahiko told Kaoru as she approached.

"Oh really? Have you forgotten that you were just as petulant as he is now?" she asked slyly.

"I…I wasn't!" Yahiko replied a shade of red appearing on his cheeks.

"I see you remember."

"By the way, where is Kenshin?"

"He's out buying the things for dinner."

"Poor guy, why the heck did he marry you?" Yahiko asked jokingly.

Kaoru reverted back to her 17-year-old self and stuck her tongue out at Yahiko for that comment and smacked him on the side of the head.

"Hey that hurt."

"That is to remind you that I am still stronger than you."

"In your dreams, _Ugly_."

"You really have a death wish don't you?" Kaoru said. It had been a long time since Yahiko had called her ugly.

"My I have walked in on a lovely scene." Said Megumi who had just arrived.

"Megumi, long time no see." Yahiko and Kaoru chorused.

"Good Evening." She said.

"Megumi, what brings you here?" Kaoru asked.

"Nothing in particular, I just wanted to visit you people."

Looking at Yahiko alone she had to ask, "By the way, Yahiko, where is Tsubame?"

"Tsubame went to visit Tae-san at the Akabeko. She'll be here shortly."

Kenji sat alone in a corner thinking about the news Yahiko had just given him. He didn't care about what was going on outside, but as soon as he saw Megumi he knew that he had to go greet her.

"Good evening Megumi-san." He said, trying to look pleased.

"My, Kenji you've grown so much."

"Thank You Megumi-san. Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."

"Yes, don't let me stop you." Megumi told him.

Something was wrong with the boy. She could see something in him, but she brushed that feeling aside.

Kenji wasn't very fond of Megumi. She scared him in a way.

'That woman is very keen. I feel like she could see through me and I don't like that.' He thought as he walked away.

He didn't consider her a threat per say, but she was a nuisance. He had to be extra careful or else she might ruin his plans.

His mother could never find out what his intentions were.


	10. Chapter 10

It was such a happy day.

Such a happy day.

"Finally." Said Kenji. After many months of training, he had mastered the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki.

"Wow, Kaoru, you are getting old." Megumi told her.

"I'm getting old? How about you? You are five years older than me." Kaoru told her long-time friend.

After many years, some of the old family friends were reunited.

"Megumi-san, don't say that! I'm only a year younger than Kaoru, you are making me feel old!" Misao chirped.

"My apologies, Misao-san, Soujiro-san."

Soujiro gave a little laugh. "Well, I don't age as fast as Misao."

Misao gave him a nasty look. "Just because you are a man."

He gave her a smirk.

"Ah, I married a jerk!" Misao exclaimed.

"No, you married a psycho." Yahiko pointed out. It had taken a while for Yahiko to truly trust Soujiro, but since Misao married him, he figured he had changed for the good.

"I think I'm staring to agree with the kid." She said.

Everybody laughed.

"Listen, Sano is back and he's dating Tae-san." Tsubame said suddenly.

"WHAT!" was the unanimous reaction.

"It had almost slipped my mind, but when I went to visit Tea-san she told me he came back to pay his debt and they've been going out." She said.

"Megumi, he's cheating on you." Yahiko told her jokingly.

"I can't believe that rooster-head is dating Tae-san. It is just too weird." Said Megumi.

"Do I hear jealousy?" Kaoru asked slyly.

Megumi threw her a hard stare.

"So Misao-san, when are you going to have kids? You have been married for a while now?" Megumi asked, changing the subject.

"Never." Misao stated bluntly.

"What do you have to say about this Soujiro-san?" Tsubame asked, a bit shyly.

"It's her body."

"You're her husband." Kaoru pointed out.

"I have never been very motherly, unlike you Kaoru. You have always been nice and warm." Misao said.

"I will agree with Misao. I cannot imagine having children." Soujiro said.

"Why not torment the newly-weds instead?" suggested Misao.

Both Yahiko and Tsubame turned bright red.

"I do not want to kill the mood, but where is Kenji-san and Kenshin-san?" Soujiro asked.

"Kenshin is out running some errands and I never know where Kenji is." Said Kaoru truthfully.

Soujiro was glad to see that everything had worked fine between Kaoru and Kenshin. He hadn't seen them in two years, but it seemed that they still were content with the life they chose to live.

"Well, I am going to take a walk." Said Soujiro walking away.

"He's going to go look for Kenshin." Misao said.

"He looks up to him as a father figure." Megumi chirped in.

"Yes he does. After that psycho, Kenshin is the only other person he's ever admired. I am glad that Kenshin fought with him and showed him the right way." Said Misao.

"You found yourself a good husband." Kaoru told her.

"Yes I did and to think that I didn't like him in the beginning."

Kenji's legs couldn't carry him fast enough. He wanted to get home and challenge his father.

"I apologize." He said, as he bumped into someone.

"No offense taken." The man said.

"Soujiro-san?"

"Kenji-san?"

"Yes it is I." Soujiro said.

"I didn't know you were here."

"Misao and I arrived shortly after breakfast."

Kenji liked Soujiro, but at that moment he was the last person he wanted to see. With him there he couldn't challenge his father.

"Soujiro-san, would you like to spar with me?" Kenji asked suddenly.

He would try the Amakakeru Ryo no Hirameki on him.

'You'll have to forgive me Soujiro-san.' He thought.

"I accept. It has been a while since I sparred with someone." Said Soujiro.

It had been him that had told a young Kenji about his father's style.

'If it weren't for you Soujiro-san, I would not have gotten stronger.'

"Get ready Soujiro-san."

Kenji said menacingly. Soujiro gave him a smile. An unreadable smile. That was the reason why Kenji liked him so much. Nobody could tell what he was thinking.

"But there are times when I still cannot decipher what he is thinking." Misao said.

"Well I guess it's natural that he still has some remains of that wall in him." Megumi said.

"Yes I understand. That doesn't change anything."

"No, I'll let you live." Kenji said. Soujiro had not expected Kenji to know and use the Amakakeru Ryo no Hirameki and now he laid unconscious on the floor.

Kenji decided not to reverse the blade, thus saving Soujiro's life, just as Aoshi's had been saved years ago by that same sword.

"And now…my father." He said, walking away from Soujiro's body.


	11. Chapter 11

Ooh wow….i said I wouldn't make Kaoru suffer, but I forgot to say I would, only a little…

He was heading home after finishing his errands when he spotted his son.

"Kenji!" he called out.

His son stopped in his tracks.

"There you are." Kenji said, "I was looking for you."

He suddenly felt a very sinister aura.

"The day has come father. You will pass this sword down to me." Said Kenji showing him the sakabato.

"But I do not have a weapon." Kenshin said.

"You do now." Kenji told him, throwing him Soujiro's sword.

"What is this? This is…" but Kenshin didn't finish.

"Enough. Let's fight, and don't hesitate. I know I won't." Cold hatred could be seen in the boy's eyes.

How could a father fight his son? He couldn't. Especially not with a real sword. Kenji might get hurt.

'I'll have to disarm him.' Kenshin thought.

The fight got underway.

Kenji began fighting using his first fighting style, his mother's style.

'Mother this is when I will break all ties with you.' Kenji thought. Those lines that told him what was good and bad were gone. The boy had lost himself in anger and hatred.

'When did he get so good?' Kenshin thought.

Kenji had the upper hand. Kenshin was running out of breath.

"You are old now. In your days of glory maybe you would have had a chance, but not now." Kenji retorted.

'When?' Kenshin thought.

"And now…" Kenji said lifting his arms and changing gears.

'I know that stance…' thought Kenshin. 'No, it can't be….how?'

"The…" Kenji flipped the sakabato, "Amakeru Ryu…"

'I cannot block that…'

"no Hirameki!" Finished Kenji, his sword reversed and his father in an awkward position.

"This is good bye!" Kenji finished it in one blow.

The last thing that Kenshin ever saw were those blue eyes, so cold, then everything went dark.

Blood splattered everywhere. Kenji was covered in the blood of his father.

"You know…I loved you, but then on that one day I lost all respect for you. The day you made my mother cry. She loved you too, you know? But you had to die. I know that my mother will find happiness now. You just had to die or else she would never let go of you." Kenji told his father's inert body.

Soujiro had seen everything. He had gained consciousness but was too weak to do anything but watch in horror as son killed father.

'I am going to be sick.' He said before throwing up.

Kenji did not notice Soujiro.

He calmly picked up his father's body and started dragging him back to the dojo.

It really was a happy day.

It really had been happy, but now it was stained in red.


	12. Chapter 12

Ouch…. don't hate me more than u already do….

"I'm worried, Kenshin is taking too long." Kaoru said.

"He's probably with Soujiro."Misao assured her.

"Misao is probably right." Megumi said.

'I have a very bad feeling.' Misao was thinking. 'Something is not right.'

The boy was extremely calm. It was as if he suddenly realized something. He didn't care about anything or anybody. He wanted to be free, and not worry about anyone. It was because of his mother that he tried to be courteous, but now his mother was as much in his way as everyone else.

"I'll go check to see if I see him coming." Misao, said.

"Oh don't bother yourself." Kaoru said.

"It's not a bother. I want to see Kenshin, besides Soujiro is probably with him." But that wasn't the way Misao had wanted to see Kenshin.

Misao was speechless. Her eyes were wide.

Kenji hardly gave her a glance and walked calmly by her, Kenshin's body almost unrecognizable because it was being dragged.

Kaoru was the first to notice Kenji walk in.

"Kenji why are you…" but she didn't finish, as her eyes lay on the thing Kenji had been dragging.

"Here." Kenji said stoically tossing Kenshin's remains at them.

"But…. what happened?" Kaoru asked, tears running down her cheeks.

Kenji showed no remorse, even after seeing his mother's tears.

"Mother," he started, "I was blind all this time, and I think I have always hated you. Probably hated you more than I hated that man." He said pointing at Kenshin's body.

Kaoru cried even more. Those words finished breaking her already broken heart.

"You are pathetic." He told his mother. "All of you are pathetic." He said, his voice showing contempt.

"What is the meaning of this?" Yahiko asked angrily, "You killed your own father?"

"And what if I did?" Kenji said calmly.

"Í always knew you were a brat, but I never thought you would sink so low." Yahiko said, tears running down his own cheeks.

"I never thought much about you. I always thought you were so insignificant."

"Argh!" Yahiko suddenly got up and rushed towards Kenji.

"STOP!" someone said, stopping Yahiko in his tracks. It was Soujiro. He was draped on Misao's shoulders.

"You can't fight him…. He's gotten too strong."

Everyone sat awestruck, to shocked to even move. Everything had happened so fast.

The boy had lost his mind and all that hatred he had harbored throughout his young life had come to surface.

He had let go of all sanity and began to walk a path very mush like a certain man named Shishio Makoto had walked 15 years prior.

"And to all this is goodbye." Where his final words before leaving the place forever.


	13. Chapter 13

Just as a side note, I think this chapter is even darker than when Kenshin died….

Oh and b4 I forget it amuses me a lot all those bad reviews I get telling me how much they love K/K and how much they hate my story...good 4 u! but if u hate my story so much, why r u reading it if ur just gonna bitch about it to me later ?….go read stories that have K/K loving each other….i don't like em' so I don't read them and I don't go bitching that ur stories suck… that is why it is called fan fiction ppl….but thanks to the ppl that have understood that this is my POV even if they do like K/K, and respect it….I'm not trying to offend anyone, but get real…

What had just occurred?

Was it really true?

Was this lump of flesh thrown at their feet really a man?

But more importantly, why had it occurred?

Why?

It was just so painful.

It was too much for a pure gentle heart to handle.

It gave way.

"Kaoru!" somebody screamed, it didn't matter who it was, nothing mattered at that moment. Kaoru had collapsed.

Megumi managed to regain some of her composure and started acting like the doctor she was.

"Misao," she said, forgetting the honorifics, "bring Soujiro-san in to the house and Yahiko you carry Kaoru."

Everyone was shaken to the core.

A son killing his father, and with his own technique and his very own sword?

'He…he used the Amakakeru Ryo no Hirameki' Soujiro had managed to say before he lost consciousness again.

Nobody could believe that Kenji even knew the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, much less that he would use it on his father to kill him.

"Is Kaoru going to be alright?" Yahiko asked Megumi.

"It will all be up to her, but losing her husband and her son in one day is too much too handle, especially for someone like her."

"Is Soujiro going to be fine?" asked Misao, tears forming in her blue eyes.

"He will, but he will take a long time recovering."

"Just like Aoshi did." Misao told herself, trying to make herself feel better.

"Yahiko…please, take care of Ken-san's body." Megumi asked in a hoarse whisper after everything was settled with her patients.

Yahiko was the only able-bodied man, so he had the sad task of picking up Kenshin's remains. It was hard to do. The man that you had seen as almost a father was now a heap to flesh created by his own flesh and blood. It just wasn't fair.

Anger rushed through him. He wanted to kill Kenji, to wring his little neck, but he knew he couldn't. Kenji was gone.

"What do I do with him?" Yahiko asked once he took him from the public's eye.

"We will have to re-dress him….then bury him." Megumi said.

Nobody wanted to look at the body. It was too much to bear. The body was completely destroyed.

"Nobody deserves to have their body treated like that whether it be in life or in death." Megumi said, taking the courage to look at the carnage.

"Yeah, yeah." Everyone said in unison.

"Hey!...how's it…going?" a voice greeted before silencing itself at the somber looks of the there present.

"Sano?" Yahiko asked.

"Why the long faces?" the brunette asked.

"Kenshin….Ken…" but Yahiko could not finish.

"Ken-san is dead." Megumi stated bluntly.

"He's what? You have to be kidding."

"Why would I joke about something so serious?" Megumi said somberly.

"But who? How?"

"It…" but Misao cut Megumi off.

"It was Kenji." She said.

"Kenji?"

"Yes, now please keep your voice down and Yahiko and you come help me clean and dress Ken-san's remains." Megumi ordered.

It was as if in a dream. The cleaning and re-dressing of the shattered body. All three of them moved mechanically, the news slowly sinking in.

Megumi was a strong woman, but trying to keep herself strong to be of support for the rest was taking a toll on her.

"Just cry Megumi." Yahiko told her, seeing her emotional break-down.

"I can't. I just can't." but tears were already falling down her cheeks.

Elsewhere,

"Do you think Kaoru will be able to attend the funeral?" Misao asked.

"Who knows?" Tsubame said in a low barely audible voice.

"But if she doesn't wake up she'll miss her last chance to say good bye to the man she loves." Misao said.

That made everyone even sadder.

"I know I would want to see Soujiro to the end if…"but Misao could not finish. The sight of her husband lying unconscious with such a deep wound still bothered her and she did not want to think of what if.

"We understand. It must be a very painful feeling Misao-san." Tsubame told her. "I know I would feel like dying if something happened to Yahiko."

Silence reigned through the night.

Later that night, Megumi came back to the room.

"Megumi-san, do you think the Kaoru-san will be able to attend the funeral?" Tsubame asked.

"I doubt it. She still has not regained consciousness and we can't wait, the body needs to rest." Megumi said.

"It will be sad if she cannot give her last goodbye." Said Misao.

"But Kaoru has a high fever and it seems as if she's lost the will to live."

Everybody had tears in their eyes. Everybody had his or her heart broken.


	14. Chapter 14

Thankee, Thankee….u guys gave me a lot of ideas for the story..i can never thank u enough….a very controversial fic indeed, but I had to write this…I hope I didn't offend anybody w/ my little outburst, but I needed to blow off some steam…besides I said what I felt, if I don't like something, I wont read it, and in my summary I say Kenshin didn't love Kaoru…so nobody was tricked…or were u guys? But overall u guys have been great…thanks…oh yeah and I have the tendency of writing a lot and updating various chapters at a time…I don't like making ppl wait and I have no life..lol…so my story is close to the end..oh and I am so glad u guys kept coming back…in my other fics my reviewers all disappeared…….

The rain fell on his handsome features washing away any remaining traces of his sin. He walked without a path.

'Where should I go?' he asked himself.

He wanted to go to Kyoto, but he couldn't. Misao and Soujiro lived there.

"Young man." A voice called out to him.

He turned around and faced a young woman.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked provocatively.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Pardon me, but I have no money." He said.

"For this time, I'll make a special offer."

He'd never been in a brothel; he'd never been with a woman either.

"I'll be gentle." The girl promised. She couldn't be much older than him.

Later…

"Like I told you before, I have no money." He told her taking back his clothes.

The girl giggled. "For today it will be my treat, but next time you have to come to me. I will be waiting."

He gave her a stare and said nothing.

"I do not think I will ever come here again."

"But if you ever do, look for me." She said.

He walked out the room without another word.

Once again he walked that wide lonely road.

The solitude brought him peace.

'Maybe I should leave the country.' He thought to himself.

Darkness. Loneliness. Pain.

He was hurting. He wanted that pain to end; yet he didn't know how.

He had broken the ties with his family and he was ok with it, but still, something ate into his young soul.

That hatred burned within him.

His happy family never existed. Even if his mother showed happiness it angered him. Her willingness to forgive and forget annoyed him. Her always-optimistic attitude never sat well with him. His father's apparent deceitfulness hurt him. Seeing how he was to carry for his pain as well as his mother's, since she seemed not to want to realize what was happening.

When he learned about life, his little boy heart shattered.

When he discovered not every marriage was based on love, he decided never to love himself.

He started building a wall around him. He pushed away any girl that seemed to fancy him. If he ever fell in love it would have to be a girl like him. Somebody strong, somebody very unlike his mother. Yes that was the type of girl he wanted.

He wasn't looking for another mother he wanted a friend, a girl who would understand him and not judge him. Somebody like his mother would only bring him pain. Somebody like her would never be able to grasp his suffering, his bloody actions. She would try to cuddle him and assume all his pain was going to go away. Somebody like his mother would not listen; she would stop her ears at his pain and tell him everything was all right. He realized now that his mother had never wanted to hear about his father's past because she could not understand it and it scared her. She pretended to understand, but she had never stained her hands with blood. She would never be able to justify all that bloodshed even if it was for the greater good.

But love; it didn't work that way, at least not for him, and not for his father.

And in a moment of clarity he cried for his fallen father.

He now understood why his father never truly loved his mother, and it was the same reason he had for not wanting the girl he loved to be like his mother. His father didn't need a warm person that pretended to understand, he needed a person who understood his pain and loneliness, someone who would listen when he tried to open his heart, and his mother just wasn't that type of woman.

He had been deceiving himself all along, the person he hated had not been the father he had slain, but the mother he had tried to protect.

All along he hated her weakness, her selflessness, because that never gained her anything. All along he hated her unwillingness to let them be, his father and he, for them to open their wings and fly on their own. Her love had always suffocated him, yet he had tried so desperately to protect that woman. His mother was the type of woman that wanted to protect everybody from pain by offering endless amounts of love, yet she didn't understand that love by itself was not enough.

Now he saw that his father had been very brave, living and sharing the same life with a woman who could never truly fulfill him. It must have taken a lot for his father to share his life with a woman that loved him, yet didn't understand him.

That father who loved him so much.

"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

His cold heart had been released, and all those unshed tears were finally shed.  
He had killed his father.

The man he had loved the most.

How did everything get so bad? When did he forget he loved his father? That he had wanted to be like his father? When and why?

But it was too late, his father was dead, his heart was broken and his hands were stained with the blood of an innocent.

There was nothing he could do now.

Then the rain stopped and the sun shined.

'_I will leave the country_.'

He had cried all he could.

Unlike his father, who had given up his sword and promised not to ever kill again, the boy did no such thing. He wasn't a saint, he would never have his father's pure heart, and so even if he never killed again, he would never compromise to that idea.

'_That is one thing I can never do. My hands are already stained with blood, and if need be I will stain them again.'_

There was nothing he could do to bring back time, and even if he repented forever, his father would not return.

He didn't dwell on it too much and after saying a prayer for his father he continued on without ever glancing back.

He was a good boy, but it would take a very strong force to make that boy follow a righteous path. He was not going to walk the path Shishio did, nor anyone else's, he wanted to follow his own heart.

This has probably been my fave chapter to write…..


	15. Chapter 15

Life had knocked her hard, but it had also given her a new outlook on life and love.

She found love once again in the arms of a generous stranger. A man overflowing with love for her.

She really loved this man, but it was a different kind of love. This was a more mature love. More mature than the one she had shared with her first husband, her first love.

Her eyes still contained a lingering sadness, but that was never going to truly go away.

In an instant, she had lost everything that she held dearest, and at the hands of a loved one.

Remembering that day, she felt the tears forming in her blue eyes.

"Mama." A voice cut through her thoughts, bringing her back to reality.

A little girl with black hair and wide brown eyes stared back at her. In an instance all those sad feelings dispersed.

"Is that for me?" she asked the little girl, who was handing her a flower.

"Yes." The little girl said.

"Thank you." She said, bringing the girl into her embrace.

She was glad to god that he had given her another chance to live. She was so happy to have this little girl. She was such a sweet thing, but that feeling was not always like that.

When she discovered she was pregnant again, she worried. She had been traumatized by what had happened with her first child, but her husband had been very supportive.

'_I am scared. What if…_' but she had not finished for her husband had taken her hand and assured her that no matter what he would be by her side.

He was a merchant, very different from her first husband. This new man knew nothing about swords, but he was the most wonderful man alive.

"She's asleep." Her husband said, coming home from a long ay of work.

"Yes, she had been playing all day."

"Well I will give her this when she wakes." He said, showing Kaoru a doll he had bought for his daughter.

"She'll love it." Kaoru told her husband with a tender smile on her face.

How different this family life was from her previous one, how different.

Maybe because she was older now that she could see things with more maturity, and lead this marriage in a different direction than her previous one. She learned to be more assertive.

'_Mother, all this time, your love has been suffocating me. That is why I have come to the conclusion that I hate you more than I hated that man_.'

Those words still stung every time she remembered them. She was afraid to hear them again from her child, and so, she decided to give the girl more room to breathe. She never wanted to hear those words again.

They were the picture of the perfect family.

She was happy with her new life.

"Mail, mail!" the mailman came by.

"Is there any for me?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact there is." Said the man handing her a letter.

"Thank you."

"Oh look, it's from Misao." She told her husband.

"What does she say?" he inquired.

'_Kaoru,_

_How have you been? When are you coming to visit? You promised but you still have not shown your face by the Aoyia. I am making you liable if you don't come! I want to see the baby and your husband, by the way my greetings to him. Soujiro and I are doing just well. Of course he still makes me angry all the time and I want to kick him out, but I can't. You know how that is…Aoshi is also doing well, still talks very little, but at least he socializes more with us…and what can you tell me about Megumi-san, Yahiko and Tsubame-kun oh yeah and that rooster head? I hope every one is doing well. If you do not come to visit, I am going to have to go there myself! You have been warned._

_With much love, _

_Misao.'_

"She is still energetic." Her husband said.

"Yes, she doesn't change."

Her husband had only met Misao and Soujiro once, and that was on the day of their marriage, but Misao's personality was an easy one, and even though her husband didn't really know her, he felt like he did.

"We should go." She told her husband, "And take the baby so that they can meet her."

"That is a wonderful idea." He said.

'_Misao,_

_You won't have to make me liable for anything, I promise you that by the end of this month we will be arriving at your home, so please do not throw Soujiro out. As far as what everybody has been doing, what can I tell you? It has been a while since we wrote to each other, but not much has changed. Megumi is still working hard with no signs of marrying anytime soon, Sanosuke, well we all knew it was bound to happen, but he ended his relationship with Tae-san. I was a little disappointed since they had been together for a while, but you know him, what a waste. Yahiko and Tsubame do not come around as often, those twins of theirs are a handful. And you, you really are keeping your word of not having children, eh?…well until I see you next month,_

_Give my kind regards to Soujiro…_

_With love, _

_Kaoru.'_

"Heh, check it our Soujiro, Kaoru is coming and bringing the family."Misao had just received the letter.

"That is a surprise." He said, "It seemed to me like Kaoru-san was reluctant to come to the Aoyia."

"I assume your suspicions are true, but I am glad she is coming."

"That means that she is slowly coming to terms with everything that happened to her."

"You're probably right, she already started by re-marrying, but she still has not faced all off the things that still hurt her." Said Misao.

"The one thing I really wish for her is that Kenji never returns." Said Soujiro.

"Yes that would be the best for her."

"But you know, sometimes I cannot stop myself and think that I cannot really hate Kenji, and is not that I approve of killing his father, but…." Soujiro stopped in his tracks; Misao didn't really know that he had killed his own family years ago.

"I think he was a very lonely kid, kinda like you, so, I guess that is why you are saying that you can't really hate him?"

"Yes." He lied. "Did you know that Kenshin-san did not love Kaoru-san?" he suddenly asked his wife.

"What? He didn't love her, but then why did he marry her? Why did he live with her for so long? Why did he have Kenji then?"

"Simply put, he didn't know how to repay her kindness and wanted her to be happy. As long as she was happy, he didn't care about himself."

"Well, that was selfish of him on all accounts, that was extremely cruel, I saw how much she loved him, but I guess if she was happy and she never found out, it was…." But she could not find the words to describe what Kenshin had done without it sounding like she approved of it.

"Well you know not all marriages are based on love." He said.

"That may be, but I could never imagine that from him. Soujiro, why did you marry me?"

"Because…I wanted to." He said.

And some may not be content with such an ambiguous answer, but to Misao that was enough. That was just the type of man she had married, and she loved him nonetheless.

"Now to get ready for Kaoru's arrival." She said.

The end of the month had arrived, as well as some people.

"Let's see, yes this is the place. The Aoyia. I had not been here in so long, but it is still like I remember it." Said Kaoru.

"Kaoru, Welcome, welcome to our home." Misao greeted.

"Thank you for having us." Said her husband.

"It's our pleasure." Said Soujiro.

"Kaoru your baby looks nothing like you, she's so pretty." Misao joked.

"Are you trying to imply something Misao?" Kaoru asked in mock anger.

"Yes, that you married a handsome man."

"Well thank you, but you yourself married a handsome man."

"I know."

And while the women talked, the men decided to leave them alone.

"I understand this place brings Kaoru some bad memories?" her husband asked Soujiro.

"It seems to remind her of her late husband, but you must know the story of what happened."

"I do, and that is why I was dubious as to bring her here, but it seems that I was worrying for nothing."

"It would seem so." Said Soujiro.

"Hey, you two, come on in!" Misao called out to them.

"Coming." Soujiro replied.

With the early morning sun, the group of friends walked into the Aoyia, and beyond it, the unknown.

Well that was intense…at least for me..so she deserved a happy ending, u guys agree right? Oh and the husband and her daughter not having a name…well I'm not much of a fan of OC characters, so that is why they have no names.like in manga when they don't show the characters face…I was trying to go for that same feeling…. well I hope u liked the ending…see I promised I wasn't gonna let her suffer.

Well till next time….maybe….hope u enjoyed the story….sorry cus I made u K/K fans suffer….

Bye bye!


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